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IVIG may prevent spread of enterovirus outbreaks in nurseries
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Intravenous immunoglobulin prophylaxis as a supplementary infection control should be considered to control enteroviral infection outbreaks in a nursery, according to study findings published in Clinical Pediatrics.
“Administration of prophylactic intravenous immunoglobulins to contacts of infants actively shedding enterovirus during a hospital nursery outbreak may attenuate severity of disease in those contacts and aid in containment of the outbreak,” researchers wrote.
The study included four infants delivered at the Soroka University Medical Center in southern Israel in July and August 2011.
Infants 1, 3, and 4 were diagnosed with hepatitis and coagulopathy, meningitis and thrombocytopenia, and hepatitis and myocarditis, respectively. Infant 2 was diagnosed with mild febrile illness with no circulatory compromise or laboratory abnormalities on the day after onset of echovirus 11 in infant 1. Infant 2’s illness was self-resolving, and physicians said they believe that it was acquired through horizontal transmission because echovirus 11 was isolated from her stool.
According to researchers, 17 infants in the neonatal ICU received IVIG (Gammagard, Baxter Healthcare Corp.) after diagnosis of infant 1. When infant 3 was diagnosed, nine more infants who were in the step-down unit at time of diagnosis also received IVIG.
Researchers found that rectal swabs for enterovirus detection at 24 and 72 hours after contact with infected infants were negative.
“Neonatal enterovirus outbreaks in the hospital nursery can be successfully contained using a prompt infection control intervention,” researchers wrote. “Our study adds to the currently limited number of reports showing that administration of intravenous immunoglobulin prophylaxis may aid in containing the further spread of infection with these highly transmissible viruses.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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